Cyprus’ President Nikos Christodoulides, on Tuesday announced the launch of the Youth Culture Card, a prepaid card with a credit of €220, which people aged 18 will be able to use for a year to attend cultural events.

The available state budget for the Youth Culture Card is €2,000,000 while more than 10,000 young people will have the opportunity to benefit from it, the President said noting that the Youth Culture Card “proves in practice our will to effectively support the arts sector and to further encourage more young men and women to discover the wealth of our country's culture”. He said that, they are applying this scheme on a pilot basis, for 2024, in order to be able to evaluate it and later evolve it.

President Christodoulides explained that this was a prepaid card, similar to the standards in other EU member states, “which we hope will give the stimulus to our youth to seek quality entertainment, attending cultural events, such as concerts, theatre productions, film screenings, dance performances, but also visits to cultural sites and museums”.

The goal he added, was to give youth the opportunity to delve into culture and develop creativity, sensitivity to the arts, while at the same time, through this initiative, the state indirectly supports the cultural sector itself, but also artistic creation in general.

President Christodoulides also said that, culture can have multiplying benefits in the development and strengthening of education, “but it can also be an important contributing factor” in areas such as tourism and the economic development and progress of our country in general. The President of the Republic thanked the Bank of Cyprus, which has assumed the implementation of this project.

Deputy Minister of Culture, Vasiliki Kassianidou, said that the Youth Culture Card aims to encourage young people to get in touch with the culture, arts and cultural wealth of the country.

By using the Card, she said, young people will have the opportunity to attend cultural events and visit places of culture, such as concerts, theater productions, dance performances, art and other exhibitions, film screenings, art festivals, museums and archaeological sites.

She noted that, beneficiaries are people who have reached the age of 18 within 2023, while the Card can be issued at any time of the beneficiary's 18th year, and will have a duration of 12 months from the day it was issued. It can also be used for purchases on internet platforms (online ticketing services) for participation in cultural events.

The Chairman of the Board of the Cyprus Youth Organisation, Kleanthis Koutsoftas, said that the Youth Culture Card, will become “a powerful tool” for the promotion of culture among the youth.

The CEO of the Bank of Cyprus, Panicos Nicolaou, that the Bank will always support such actions, adding value to the culture of the country.